Homicide detectives are asking for the public’s help in solving the murder of Karla Torres, a 27-year-old San Fernando woman whose body was found near a Bakersfield freeway exit ramp in late 2022.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department held a news conference in San Fernando on Thursday to reveal new details about the case and ask for specific information that could help the investigation, but did not reveal a motive or possible suspects, saying detectives were withholding details to protect the investigation.
Carla Torres Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
“We hope that people will be brave enough to come forward and help identify the information investigators are looking for,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Modica said. “This information will help us make this case even stronger.”
Authorities said Torres’ body was found engulfed in flames on southbound Interstate 99 near the Hosking Avenue exit in Bakersfield around 5 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2022. Modica said Torres had two young children, ages 10 and 8, and the family is devastated by Torres’ death.
“They lost their loved ones, their family, their mothers,” Modica said. “It’s been very difficult for them. It’s been very difficult for them to talk to investigators about what happened.”
Torres’ body was burned, but the medical examiner determined the cause of death was multiple stab wounds, Modica said.
He said detectives had conducted an “exhaustive” investigation and had found out more details about Torres’ whereabouts the night before she was found.
The night before, she had been hanging out with friends at a veterans’ center in San Fernando near the restaurant where she worked as a waitress, Modica said, and from there she went to a home in San Fernando where she was killed.
Investigators believe her body was then transported to Bakersfield in a white 2021 Honda CR-V, where it was seized and examined by authorities. The location where she was found is about 110 miles from where she was last reportedly seen alive.
“Detectives were able to identify DNA evidence that identified Carla’s body in the rear cargo area of that vehicle,” Modica said.
The white 2021 Honda CR-V is the make and model of the vehicle investigators believe her body was taken in after she was killed. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Now, sheriff’s office investigators are asking anyone who saw the vehicle near the Foreign Veterans Association chapter on Hager Street or Knox Street in San Fernando on the night of Dec. 16, 2022, or the early morning hours of Dec. 17, 2022, to come forward. Anyone who may have seen the vehicle in Bakersfield around that time is also being asked to come forward, he said.
Modica said several people detectives spoke to said they heard gunshots near Knox Street around the time Torres was believed to have been killed. Investigators are now searching for anyone who may have heard gunshots in the area on the night of Dec. 16, 2022, or the early morning hours of the following day.
Modica said Torres’ cellphone has not yet been found, so investigators are also seeking testimony from anyone who found the phone around the same time. Modica said those details are crucial.
“It’s a small piece of a big puzzle, but we’ve put most of the pieces together,” Modica said. “This will help put those small pieces in place.”
Marissa Wentzke